But What Will The Gods Eat Tomorrow?

I don’t want to kill anybody!"

"What about the guy you left on the floor of the warehouse?"

"Frag!" I yelled.

"The other buildings are clear. Blast ‘em!"

I opened fire on one target after the other. Balls of fire flared up across the compound. The cultists were running down the hill from the temple, and a few had already drawn their lasers. Little red bolts began to appear in the air, though most missed their mark. The few that hit the Dragon didn’t even register on the energy fields.

After destroying the last of the targets, I pulled back on the flight stick and the Dragon climbed into the air. I circled the compound from several hundred meters up, then aimed the Dragon at the temple. The building was scary, black and dark, with long, pointed pinnacles and blood red spires. I decided it needed a little redecorating. "Is the temple clear?"

"I’m getting one lifeform reading in the front courtyard," Tempest said. "I think it’s a priest."

We were bearing down on the temple with incredible speed. I activated the heavy blast cannon and sent a couple of explosive projectiles into the heart of the Temple of Timay. To my great delight, the building exploded in a shower of black and red stone. I was a little disappointed when some of the falling debris landed on the priest.

"Have you ever met a Priest of Timay?" Tempest asked, and I braced myself for a scathing comment from my AI.

I shook my head. It turned out he was trying to console me. "The universe is better off without him, Jonny. They’re a sick, twisted bunch of freaks. And I mean, even when compared to the rest of you Humans. They’re worse than the media!"

"That bad?"

"You have no idea."

I aimed the Dragon for the stars. "How far away from the planet to we need to be before we nova?"

"Nova’s never been attempted in an atmosphere before," Tempest informed me. "I would suggest we get at least fifty kilometers above the ionosphere, if not more."

I set the course and sat back in my chair. Reached into my pocket, I pulled out the chunk of wall. "I brought a present for you, Toolbox!"

The object analyzer opened, then closed. "What is it?" Tempest asked suspiciously.

"It’s a piece of that trix-polymer you wanted."

The analyzer door opened again, and this time, the tray extended. I dropped the fragment of polymer and the analyzer closed. "I…I guess I should thank you, Jonny."

"Don’t mention it, Scrapheap," I replied, and I meant it. He never had to mention it; he just couldn’t forget about it.

The atmosphere was thinning, and the darkness of space began to take its place. Suddenly, about twenty different sounds echoed through the cockpit. Klaxons and sirens and whistles and alarm bells. "What the hell’s going on?" I shouted, hoping Tempest could hear me.

I figured it out before he answered. "Oh my Go–"

"It’s the Aardvark!" Tempest screamed, but the sirens cut off at just the same instant and his voice thundered through the now-silent cockpit. Suddenly, nearly a thousand bolts of laser light flew in our direction. "Jonny, get us out of here!"

I grasped the controls and started evasive maneuvers. "Tempest, get the energy fields to full power! And let me know when we’re high enough to nova!" I would have said more, but the Dragon was suddenly surrounded by laser fire, and it was all I could do to keep from getting hit.

I had never flown through so much fire in my life. There were laser bolts everywhere, and they seemed to be coming from every direction. Added to them were heat-seeking and guided missiles, also launched from the Aardvark.